


Beyond Redemption

by Peregrine



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Out of Character, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-15
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-25 12:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2622506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peregrine/pseuds/Peregrine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were all dead and the blood was on his hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beyond Redemption

**Author's Note:**

> I felt like writing something bleak and taking Historia's character in an entirely dark direction. I ended up losing my muse about halfway. This has been sitting on my laptop for several months now so I figured I would type out an ending and hope for the best?

Several hours had passed since the murky sky had faded into darkness. Bertl could still see flames leaping throughout the capitol from his vantage atop the wall, small vestiges of light in an eerily black world. The sounds of the war raging below them penetrated his ears, shouts and screams echoing through the night.  Were they cries of fear? Pain? Horror? Bertholdt didn't know. He had long ago numbed himself to the noise. The massacre going on below them seemed so trivial compared to what had already occurred. The city was like a dying animal, putting up a feeble struggle in the face of its own demise. In the end, it held no meaning to him.

The giant couldn't stop thinking about the irony of the situation. Out of the group that had come to destroy the wall, he was the only one left. Reiner had died, sacrificing himself in a final act of defiance to try and stop exactly what was now occurring. In the end, Reiner had probably been the bravest and the most noble of the four of them. Even under the threat of imminent death, he had tried to help the survey corp. He had tried to save what he had originally been sent to destroy.

Alas, his sacrifice had been in vain. Reiner was just another body Bertholdt was responsible for. Most of his so called ‘comrades’ had fallen perishing in their own desperate attempts to save themselves and everything they loved. They all had the same look at the very end, a wide eyed terror that begged one simple question; Why? Why me? Bertholdt had watched with his own eyes as each had fallen prey to titans and he still didn't know why.

He sighed and drew away from his thoughts, instead focusing on the girl before him. She sat atop his lap, her legs on either side of him as she gently straddled her waist. He gazed into her eyes, eyes as dead as stone. The last sign of humanity had long ago faded, replaced by an emptiness that shook him to his very core.

“Does it bother you, Bertholdt?” Historia asked, her  icy blue eyes meeting his. The way she spoke was eerie. There was no warmth in her words. It was her voice yet it sounded nothing like her.

“No,” Bertholdt said, hesitating for only a moment. He instantly regretted the lie. Historia smiled wistfully, her eyes filled with disappointment. Bertholdt felt like a dog caught red handed in an act of defiance against its master. “That’s okay. It will be over soon,” Historia murmured, her breath gently caressing his ear as she rested her head on his shoulder. “They’ll can’t hold the walls forever.” She seemed completely indifferent to this revelation. The people around them meant even less to her than he did. She had told him so herself. She had told him that she hated each and every one of them. To her, this was far too merciful a fate for humanity.

“It’s just us now.” She began to pressing kisses to his face, her pale, amaranth lips like daggers against his skin. Bertholdt melted under her attention, bringing his hands up to hold her. He murmured her name, the sound nothing more than a growl in the back of his throat.

Even now, he loved Historia. Even when she had been reduced to this former shell of herself, stripped of everything that made her human, he couldn't help himself. He knew Historia didn't feel the same way. He was only fulfilling a shallow desire within her; a desire to be wanted, to be needed. It was a relationship of convenience. Maybe she felt pity for him. Maybe she was even fond of him in her own way. But it wasn’t love.

Bertholdt had never meant for it to be this way.

Even now, Historia looked so innocent. Nobody could have predicted that she would be the one responsible for humanities demise. Though the blood was on his hands, she had been the one pulling his strings, using him like a puppet.

Most people would describe Historia as a monster after what she had done. There was no remorse in her actions, no pity for the living or the dead. This wasn't the way Historia had always been, of course. Ymir’s death had ultimately been what had broken her. It was Ymir’s death that had turned her against the world.

“Historia,” Bertholdt said, sitting up and trying to push her off. He wanted to say something. He wasn't sure what but he felt like he needed to say something.

“Bertholdt,” Historia said, shaking her head. She pinned him against the wall and pressed a kiss to his lips and Bertholdt stopped. His mind wasn't working anymore. All he knew was Historia and her touch. He wrapped his arms around her an returned her kiss, his mouth pressing needfully against hers.

If he had nothing else left, at least he had her.

* * *

 


End file.
